Improvement in steam-engines



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JOHN HOUPT, OF SPRINGTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 116,312, dated June 27,1871.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN HOUPT, ot' Springtown, in the county of Bucksand State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements inSteam-Engines, of which the following is a specication:

My improvements relate to a mode of maintaining a cool condition of thewater required for the jet condenser of a steam -engine located wherewater is scarce or dear; and also to the utilization of the exhauststeam, which has hitherto been generally allowed to escape directly fromthe steam-cylinder (or from the self-clearing jet-condenser patented tome April 19,1870, and reissued May 31, 1870) to the furnacechimney or tothe open air, by causing the said exhaust steam to serve as a preserverof the heat of the saidcylinder sufficiently to prevent any condensationof the steam therein while the en gine'is in operation.

The iirst part oi my invention consists in the arrangement of anelevated water-vessel, in combination with the main water-supply pipeand the jet-valve chamber, in such a manner that, as the jet-valvecloses, the momentum of the moving supply-water will cause the water inthe valvechamber to ascend upward toward the elevated vessel, fromwhence it may again enter the'main supply-pipe by gravitation; thevobject of this part of my invention being to keep the water in thejet-valve chamber constantly changing, and thus to prevent its becomingwarmed by the heat of the said condenser. The second part of myinvention consists in the arrangement of a steamjacket chamber aroundthe steam-cylinder of an engine, in combination with a pipecommunicating with the exhaust-steam pipe of the cylinder, or ofthe hotwell of a condenser, and with a pipe leading either into the chimney ofthe furnace or into the open air; the object of this part of myinvention being to preserve the heat of the cylinder by means of theusual waste steam.

The drawing represents two distinct steam-cylinders operated by steamfrom the same steampipe. The said steam-pipe A is intended to beextended into communication with the usual steam-boiler or generator, orinto communication with a superheater, and is branched at a' a', so asto communicate with the respective parts b b' of the two distinctsteam-cylinders B B, the exhausts b b of which latter communicate withrespective jet-condensers c c, each of which operates by dividing theexhaust steam into two portions, condensing one portion to produce thelvacuum before the piston, and discharging the other portion into thehot well D below, as described in the speciiication of the said LettersPatent hereinbefore referred to.

In my present invention, an open steam-pipe, d', leads upward from eachof the hot wells D D int-o a space, b", formed by a steam-jacket whichincloses the steam-cylinder, and from this space an escape-pipe, b4,conveys the steam to the usual chimney of the furnace or to the openair. The valve-chambers c c of the jet-sprays c c are each supplied withcold water through a pipe,

E, from an elevated reservoir, not shown, andv communicating with thesaid valve-chamber and with a water-vessel, F, aboveit, is apipe, f',which is Iitted with a drop-valve, f" ,that opens upward, while anotherpipe, f, Jlitted with an adjustable valve, 5, forms a communicationbetween the water-vessel F and the pipe E.

rIhe pistons of the two cylinders B B are intended to move, in part,alternately in the same directions; and immediately after the iirst puffot the exhaust steam has passed through and thus cleared the condenser Cof any air and water therein the valve 0 closes, and immediatelyafterward the spray of cold water enters and condenses the imprisonedportion of the steam and produces the vacuum required, as described inthe Letters Patent hereinbefore referred to. The valve of thespray-pipe, closing suddenly, causes the water in the valve-chamber o torise, from its momentum, upward through the valve f in the pipe j"toward the vessel F, and thus prevents it from becoming warmed bycontact with the condenser C, and consequently can be repeatedly used byflowing into the valvechamber c through the pipe E. The rst portion ofthe steam which is projected into the hot well D at every stroke of thepiston passes upward into the space b which incloses the engine, a pipe,d', which forms a communication between the said chamber andtheexhaust-steam pipe of either a steam-cylinder, a superheatcr, 0r the hotwell of a condenser, substantially as described, for the purpose ofkeeping up the heat of said steam-cylinder by the Waste steam of theengine, as described.

JOHN HOUPT. NVitnesses:

BENJ. MORISON, WM. H. MoRIsoN.

